


The Choice

by Trash_000



Category: Pirates of the Caribbean (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, Minor Original Character(s), Original Child Characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-24 01:42:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30064740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trash_000/pseuds/Trash_000
Summary: “I’ve made my choice, now what’s yours?”What if she chose not to answer him then? What if she waited to see the end of the battle? What difference could that one choice make?
Relationships: Elizabeth Swann/Will Turner, Jack Sparrow/Elizabeth Swann
Comments: 5
Kudos: 9





	The Choice

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ever PotC fanfic. I usually only write for OuaT, but I got into the Sparrabeth mood one day and started writing this. I’ve actually had it sitting in my Google docs for about a year now, mulling over whether or not I should post it. 
> 
> Today I decided to finally do so. I hope it’s satisfactory.

_** The Choice ** _

“Elizabeth!” William yelled to her in the midst of battle. “Elizabeth,” he repeated, close to her as he’d found the briefest of moments for them to pause “will you marry me?”

She dodged an attack, continuing to fight for her life, sword clashing with one of the enemy’s. “I don’t think now’s the best time!”

“Now may be the only time!” He called back after slitting the throat of his competitor, only for another to step in less than a moment’s pause later. “I love you.” He told her when they could spare a second to meet eyes again, up close. And after another brief intermission in which they both fought he said “I’ve made my choice, now what’s yours?”

She was suddenly put on the spot with little to no time to think. What could she say? What could be done? She didn’t know, she had no time to think. “There’s no time!” She responded unable to think of any other reasonable option at the moment. She’d make her choice once things calmed down. “When this is all over-“ she began to say before having to reconcentrate her efforts on the battle.

* * *

•• **POV Change - Jack** ••

Jack watched with heart and dagger in hand as Will Turner was run through the chest by Davy Jones just a few feet in front of him. For a moment the world froze and he found himself unable to do what he’d been planning to do all this time. Why couldn’t he do it? It would end all their problems, all this fighting, right now if he could just stab the heart.

“Will! Will, look at me!” Not all their problems would be solved, he realized. He could hear the desperation in Elizabeth’s voice, see the sorrow and grief already taking form to mar her features. She would be thrust into mourning any moment now and the idea of seeing Elizabeth cry didn’t sit well with Jack. Despite their past issues he wouldn’t ever wish to see her so upset. He had to make a choice. His own mortality or William’s?

Thinking quickly he took a knee next to his fallen acquaintance and pressed the dagger firmly into Will’s palm. For Elizabeth, he’d decided. Quick as a lightning strike he helped guide the blade into the heart. In an instant the battles onboard grew quiet. Davy Jones muttered the name of his beloved goddess and fell lifeless into the sea, his crew all but dropped their weapons.

He was sure he’d made the right decision until a glance at Miss Swann’s face gave him pause. She looked so heartbroken, almost more so than before. She looked at him with a helplessness he’d never seen in her before.

_“Part of the crew, part of the ship.”_

Jack took in their surroundings, watching The Flying Dutchman’s undead crew begin to circle in around them, chanting ominously. He realized what was due to happen next. He had to get Elizabeth out of here. She shouldn’t witness what would be done to her William.

_“Part of the crew, part of the ship.”_

He yanked her back quite forcefully, turning her away from the horror scene that was about to unfold. She fought him, tears streaming down her face, but he held her firmly in place.

“Don’t look.” He told her quite sternly when she almost managed to slip away, his face pale and eyes wide from what he was seeing himself. “Trust, Lizzie! You don’t want to look.” Even to himself it sounded desperate, so unlike himself. Then again in all his years of pirating he’d never seen anything quite so gruesome as a living man having his heart carved out.

She gave in and collapsed against his shoulder.

* * *

  
“Why?” She asked him moments later as they descended through the air with the aid of one of The Dutchman’s sails. Her voice was quiet and shaky, her face was buried against his chest. “Why him?”

‘You. Always you.’ He opted not to say, because how could he? That would be admitting too much, and she was much too vulnerable right then to hear such an answer anyway. But it was true. Any time Captain Jack Sparrow chose to be selfless, to be a good man, it was for her. On occasion that made him a fool, but Gods be damned if it wasn’t worth it! She deserved so much and he could give her so little.

He thought he recalled hearing a marriage proposal in the heat of the battle, right around the time that he’d obtained the heart. A marriage proposal that had gone nowhere and was left unanswered due to poor timing. “You deserved the ability to make a proper choice, Luv.” He told her. She couldn’t very well marry a dead man.

She didn’t respond.

* * *

•• **POV Change - Elizabeth** ••

They watched the East India Trading Company retreat over the horizon and celebrated. The Flying Dutchman sailed alongside The Black Pearl.

“Elizabeth!” She heard William call from his new ship. She turned and they locked eyes. He smiled wide and she felt her heart flip in her chest.

There was a gangplank bridging between the two ships not five minutes later and she would cross over to speak with him. She would make the most difficult decision of her lifetime.

* * *

•• **POV Change - William** ••

He watched as she climbed back aboard The Black Pearl, tears in her eyes, tears in his own. It hurt watching her walk away, but he understood her reasonings.

He couldn’t blame her for her decision. This isn’t what he’d expected to happen when he proposed. Despite his want to save his father, he was sure Jack would’ve taken the curse for himself given the opportunity. During the time when he proposed to Elizabeth he’d almost been counting on it, but sometimes life throws you an unexpected curve and you have to just work with the consequences, terrible as they may be.

If his heart were still in his chest he no doubt would’ve felt the ache and weight of the conversation they just had. If he wasn’t already a cursed man that surely would’ve been his end. He was just glad they were still able to agree to meet again in a decade’s time.

He placed a hand over his chest and grew discomforted with himself when he couldn’t feel a beat.

* * *

•• **POV Change - Jack** ••

There was a quiet knock on the Captain’s cabin door late in the evening. Most of the crew had already decided to bunk down by then and so Jack was led to wonder who it could be.

Of all people he didn’t expect to see Elizabeth on the other side. “Lizzie…” he greeted. “What are you doing here?” She held up a bottle of rum in offering and he found himself letting her in. “I would’ve thought you’d be honeymooning right ‘bout now.” He commented once the door was closed. He leaned lightly on the edge of his desk, deciding on keeping far away from the more intimate areas of his quarters.

She stood semi-awkwardly in the middle of the room and uncorked the bottle with her teeth. “I didn’t accept his proposal.” She told him.

“Oh…” he didn’t know what to say. He’d half expected this outcome simply by knowing the free-spirit Elizabeth had become, but right now he was stunned. Had she really given up her chances with William so easily?

She appeared abnormally calm about the matter. He’d thought there would be more feelings with this outcome… though perhaps she’d worn herself out. Today had been a lot as it was. Maybe she was feeling a sort of numbness. He’d felt that before. A pirate's life was filled with long nights where nothing seemed to go right.

“I couldn't, it wouldn’t be practical.” She chose to explain further. He nodded along as he watched her take a long draw of the spirit.

“Because of the curse?” He asked as she handed the drink his way. When she merely nodded he chanced a “But I thought you loved him?”

She hesitated to answer for a moment, as if it were more complicated than simply a yes or no. “Yes… I-I do love Will... but I can’t waste my life waiting for him to come to me. I…. I need to free, Jack. I need to be able to move forwards with my life.”

He could certainly understand that. Elizabeth blossomed best when facing the wind, an adventure on the horizon before her. She looked her best with sun kissed skin and golden waves in her hair, wearing clothing that didn’t suffocate her. There was a wondrous fire that burned in her soul when she stood at the helm and it deserved to continue to roar.

“Aye.” He agreed with a nod and the ghost of an approving grin. “Well, I recall once telling you that The Pearl is freedom. I welcome you to stay aboard her for as long as you seek it.”

“Thank you, I appreciate the offer.”

She didn’t stay much longer after that. They chatted a little here and there about pointless topics, small talk, about next decisions, all the while taking turns swallowing mouthfuls of rum until Jack decided he should send her off to bed.

At first she seemed hesitant to agree, it almost seemed as if she had wanted to stay, but she gave in easily enough and wished him a goodnight.

* * *

  
The feelings came back to her in a violent crash just a few days later. She came to him in the night again, this time with tears in her eyes and arms hugging her chest. He led her to the window settee and offered her the comfort she was so obviously seeking.

She once again cried against his chest about her lost love. She feared she made the wrong choice.

“Hey now Liz, don’t say that…” he soothed, rubbing small circles between her shoulders. “You made the best decision you could for yourself, Luv. You said it yourself, ye can’t sit around waiting on a man who can’t be there for you…”

She nodded through her sniffles and sobs “I-I sup-suppose…” she took a steadying breath that did very little to actually calm her. “I-I just can’t help thinking of what could’ve been.”

He hummed an affirmation. “Aye, I feel you there. Everybody in this world wishes for something to have turned out differently…”

Another sniffle “I-I find myself thinking this would be simpler if he were merely dead. Sorrow seems a lesser darkness.”

That revelation shocked Jack. She’d rather William be dead? He placed his hands on her shoulders and pushed her back just far enough to see her face. “Now, you can’t really mean that…”

“But it’s true!” She sobbed. “If he were dead, I wouldn’t be feeling such guilt, such regret, such a loss of hope! I would still be heartbroken, yes, but that would be all!”

“But you would never see him again. Certainly once a decade is better than never at all?”

“I’m not sure, Jack.” She whimpered, shaking her head. “What if every time I see him it just reopens these wounds? However am I to properly move on?”

He shrugged his shoulders truly at a loss. “You’ll find a way.” He told her, pulling her back into his embrace. “As you always do.”

Shortly after he decided to get them a drink, and then another. She wound up drinking herself into quite a state that night and he couldn’t be careless enough to leave her alone. She stayed the night, snoring lightly on his settee.

* * *

•• **POV change - Narrator(?)** ••  
  


The night visits started becoming a regular habit. A couple days a week she would come to him, to speak of her feelings or her days.

It was only the third visit when she found that she trusted him with her life and expressed her guilt for betraying him earlier that year and feeding him to the Kraken.

“Don’t worry about it, Luv. I already forgave you.”

He’d always comfort her on the nights she’d need it and on the nights she didn’t things seemed lighter and fun. They would talk and joke, make quips and tease each other much like they used to but with less venom and mockery.

They became good friends.

* * *

It was only a few months later when Jack realized he trusted her too, and that it likely wouldn’t change again, Pirate or no.

They shared private tales and secrets, delving more into conversations about him and his past, his feelings, his guilts.

The roles reversed those nights and she’d comfort him if he needed it.

* * *

•• **POV Change - Jack** ••

When trust and emotions are shared between men and women, love often follows, as such are the conditions for it to bloom.

Not even a year after Will was out of the picture Elizabeth came to Jack in the night to admit she’d developed some amount of romantic feelings for her captain.

He’d not known what to say. It was no secret that he’d been pining after Miss Swann almost since the moment he’d met her, but he’d always considered it purely sexual. Thinking about it now however made him uncomfortable when he realized it wasn’t that simple.The case of his feeling towards Elizabeth was more complicated than he’d imagined and had been for some time apparently.  
  
He did something most unexpected of him and asked for time to think on it. After all, he had never been his thing to stay involved with a woman longer than a few nights. He didn’t know how to fit love into his life.

She left him to it.

* * *

They shared their first proper kiss four days after her admission, no ulterior motives, only the simplicity of appreciating another’s precious company. Simple and sweet, something usually unheard of from Jack Sparrow, but he thought he might change- only slightly- for her.He didn’t want to ruin whatever had happened between them too soon. He’d realized he liked the idea of her being his and remaining by his side.

She stayed in his cabin again that night, cuddled up by his side, her head tucked under his chin and his heart beating loud in her ear.

Gibbs found them in the morning, Jack still asleep and Lizzie playing idly with his hair. He asked no questions, only accepted that it may be something he’d have to get used to.

* * *

•• **POV change - William** ••

A decade is an odd time frame to watch go by. It feels long as you live it. You watch over three thousand days trickle by and it seems as if the cycle is endless, but then one day all of a sudden you realize ten years have passed and you wonder just where the time has gone. A goodbye that seems like just yesterday happened ages ago, and people you once planned a future with have moved on without you.

William steps off the gangplank of The Flying Dutchman onto a tiny dock of little known fishing island and sees a vision of a future that never was. There stood Elizabeth, the love of his younger years and quite possibly his life, upon the hill watching two young children play about in the sand. The silhouette of a man seated beneath a tree. He calls her name and everyone stops to look his way.

The children ran over first, excitedly. They took in his ship with wide eyes. “Woah!” Remarked the oldest, a girl dressed in boys clothing, hair long and pulled into a messy but still beautiful french braid. She appeared around the age of seven. “Is this your ship? She’s a bloody beaut, innit Jackie?”

The younger, a small boy no older than four nodded excessively. “She’s a beaut!” He exclaimed, mimicking his sister with a grin.

William, a little uncomfortable with how casually adult-sounding the girl had spoken to him, only nodded awkwardly. “Will Turner, Captain of The Flying Dutchman.” He introduced himself with an offered hand.

The girl took his hand and shook it confidently and with much power for a girl her age. “Jocelyn Sparrow, but you can call me Joss.” She then gestured to the boy “That’s my brother, Jackie.” The boy, upon being named, grinned wider.

Will for a moment couldn’t believe his ears. “Sparrow?” He asked in disbelief as he glanced up towards their mother who’d just arrived at the scene, a certain pirate trailing not too far behind her.

“Oi there, Beasties, let the whelp get his land-legs back, savvy? Scamper off.”

“But Papa-“ Jocelyn began pointing at The Flying Dutchman, her little brother imitated her and also pointed at the ship.

“No ‘but’s to your captain, I said ‘scamper off’. Now, shoo, let the adults talk.”

The children pouted but listened to their father, running off to continue the game they’d been playing earlier. They picked up a couple sticks and began a mock sword fight.

Jack sidled up next to Elizabeth and wrapped an arm snugly around her waist and William felt his jealousy flair.

“So you two, huh?” He said, a little tension in his voice. “You got married, had a couple pups… things look like they’re going swimmingly, ” He was trying not to let his upset shine through but he couldn’t stop himself from ending the sentence with “without me.”

Elizabeth seemed startled. “Will, you knew I would have to move on… I told you as such…”

“Yes, but, I didn’t think you meant with him!” He bursted. “Is he the reason you didn’t accept my proposal?” He looked to Jack then. “You stole her from me!” He accused him.

“I bloody saved your life if you don’t remember!” Jack spat back. “So don’t you get all cross at me, mate. She made the big decisions!” He said gesturing toward his wife.

“And when it came down to it I couldn’t spend my life waiting for my husband to come home.” Elizabeth explained, tone firm and claiming situational authority. “That would be giving up too much of who I am. I loved you, William,” her voice softened as she said those last four words. “But I needed to be free. I needed someone who would be there with me, and that couldn’t be you…. Perhaps we were never meant to be.”

“The Elizabeth I knew would never have said that…” he replied bitterly.

“Yes, and the William I knew was a humble blacksmith’s apprentice. People change.” She returned, tone equally sharp, sensing his sour behaviour wouldn’t change.

“Indeed they do…” was all William said in return, expression dark at the same time it was blank. He turned and climbed back aboard The Dutchman without another word.

The seas had once known Davy Jones’ heartbroken wrath, and now they would know Will Turner’s.


End file.
